Thieves?
by Nanchih
Summary: just what brought Merry & Pippen, young lords of the Shire, to be stealing vegetables? And how did they suddenly have camping packs and capes, running through the woods? Applies ONLY to the movie version! Standard disclaimers about names and copyright


AU - Merry & Pippen, thieves?

My thought - just what brought Merry & Pippen, young lords of the Shire, to be stealing vegetables? And how did they suddenly come up with camping packs and capes, running through the woods?  
Applies ONLY to the movie version!  
Standard disclaimers about names and characters being not my own,  
excepting Tammy & Wren.

While out on one of their rambles, camping near the River, Merry & Pippen stopped by a small cottage one day to see if they could wash up before heading home. Pippen, of course, was a real mess, having fallen in a bit of bog again, and Merry didn't look much better after pulling him out, again.  
Pippin's father would be furious, again.

The cottage didn't look like much, not more than a thread of smoke from the roof and the window shutter hanging. Pippen noticed there wasn't any woodpile visible. Merry called out politely, "Hallo! Anyone here?"

His voice echoed in the empty yard. They looked at each other, and were about to leave when Pippen heard a little sound. He ran to the half-door. Inside he looked at what seemed a deserted hearth, but he still thought he heard a soft sound. Impulsively he pushed in and allowed his eyes to adjust. Merry, holding the pack pony's bridle, came into the doorway behind him.

The hearth had a few smoking embers of bark, not to be called a real fire at all. The room was gloomy, dusty, and bare. In the corner by the hearth was an old, broken-down chair piled with rags, the only furniture in the room. The boys looked at each other, and Merry was about to give up when he also heard the sound - a soft snuffle. It seemed to come from the chair.  
Pippen walked slowly to the side.

In the glow from the fire he finally made out the sleeping face of an old hobbit woman, wrapped in an old quilt. Her dark curls were tangled, streaked with gray, almost white at the roots. She looked thin and ill. As Pippin's eyes adjusted, he widened them in surprise. Then he slipped quietly back to Merry.

"She's holding a tiny baby! She's too old to be its mother. There's a bottle by her side, almost empty, and I have no idea what she can possibly be going to fill it with! There's nothing else in the cottage!"

The boys went back out to the tiny yard to figure out what they could do. Merry sent Pippen to collect dry wood for the fire - "Be careful of the bog!", while he searched around. In a moment he found a byre, a tiny shed, with a roughly fenced bare yard. In the byre was a starved-looking little cow, without even the energy to bawl at him for invading her home.  
Next to the pen was a poor garden patch, cleaned out. He put the pony in the yard and gave each animal some of the grain from his pack. He pulled some weeds and an armload of dry grass to fill the manger.

Pippen was back with some branches, so he cut them up while Merry took their folding leather camp pail to the river for water. Several trips later, the cow was satisfied, though the boys were dirtier than ever. They washed their faces and arms with a final pail of river water.

Pippen peered back into the cottage, saw the woman must have been exhausted because she had not moved. But, the baby seemed to notice the shadow, and sent up a wail in her arms. She stirred, cooing to the mite and groping for the bottle. "Not much here, dear, we'll have to see if Bonnie can give us a drop more before we take her to the river for her drink. Let's go while it's light, then maybe I can find some roots or nuts for a bite of dinner, and some more sticks for the fire." She turned as she rose, and then shrieked. She had seen Pippen in the door. "Don't hurt us - Please don't hurt the babe!"

Pippen realized he must look awful, covered in muck as he was. It was drying and flaking off. He HAD washed his face and arms, but she probably could not tell that he was only a boy. The light behind him would make him look huge and dangerous. He backed out, stammering an apology she didn't seem to hear.

Merry, slightly cleaner, came running over with a small kindled branch, an improvised torch, which he thrust before him into the room for light. There they saw her, huddled over the baby in a corner behind her tipped chair. The two went in together, pulling the chair upright and kneeling in front of her.

"It's all right, ma'am. We won't hurt anyone - we only want to help you!"

She peered at them with huge eyes, large as any hobbit child's in her pinched face, and began to cry herself. With the baby also still wailing in that small space the din was deafening. The boys looked at each other alarmed, and decided to move back. Merry tossed the small branch on the smoldering fire. Then he and Pippen gently took her arm and shoulder, still holding the baby, and took her out to the yard.

Outside, the sun was still shining, though low in the sky, and a fresh breeze was blowing. The bog stench of their flaking clothing was less here, and the woman could see they were only boys under the dirt. She almost smiled at them.

"I suppose you two will look better after you've washed up? I hope you have spare clothes in those packs? I'm afraid I haven't any dinner to offer you, but there's plenty of water in the river."

The baby saw the bottle in her hand and grabbed at it. She smiled and gave him the little that was there. "If you boys will excuse us a minute, I need to see if the cow can give a bit of milk for the child's hunger. My name is Tammy, and this is Wren, my grandchild."

The cow could. The bottle was quickly filled with frothing milk, diluted a little with boiled water. "Cow's milk is too rich, you see, but we don't have a goat." The warm, fragrant drink soothed the hungry cries immediately.

Pippen held the child for a moment, and then looked panicked as a worse smell than the bog arose. Tammy laughed at the look on his face! She went to a small line behind the shed, where they saw a few bits of cloth hanging. One wiped the child, and a fresh one wrapped him. The dirty ones went into a basket. "I'll wash them in the morning," she said to their looks. Merry didn't say what he was really thinking - that his mother wouldn't have washed a floor with those rags. Neither of the boys could understand any hobbit living in such poverty!

The boys did what they could, of course. They cut a pile of wood for the fire, fetched a huge pile of dry grass for the cow, and shared their supper from their packs. After they cleaned up properly (Merry's mother had even packed soap, knowing her boys well), they all shared bread with potted meat, cheese, and apples.

Tammy explained, shyly, and only when they would not quit. Her daughter had died soon after the baby was born. Her husband and son-in-law had gone to town a few weeks back, saying they were going to ask for harvest work at the Mill. They had not come back, and the boys guessed that they would be drunk in some tavern. Tammy was alone, as alone as any woman could be in a prosperous countryside. No neighbors called on her, no one knew how bad things were here, and she was too ill to reach help. The fire burned low, and she dozed with the child.

Merry & Pippen talked quietly, and knew they could not go home leaving her this way. In the morning, Merry cut wood and stacked more grass for the cow, building up a large stack in the way he knew would shed rain. Pippen headed for the nearest farm - Maggot's. He knew farmer Maggot was gruff but kindly, and would be glad to help.

But when he arrived at the farm, no one was around at all! Even the dogs seemed to have gone rabbit hunting. He knocked at the house, hollered through the barns, and checked the stable quarters for the hired hands. There was no one there. He found a scrap of bark and some charcoal, and wrote a quick note, which he fastened to the kitchen door. Then he took a couple small bags of taters, and some carrots from the stack by the porch. He filled a fourth small bag with grain, and loaded with all the pony could carry, he hurried back down the road.

Behind him, unseen, the breeze took the note from the door and blew it around the yard until it lodged back by the woodpile. It was never touched again until the next rain had washed it clean.

Back at the cottage in the woods, Merry had cut a large woodpile. Looking around, they were satisfied they had done everything they could for now. Surely Farmer Maggot would be here as soon as he found Pippin's note! So, with apologies that their parents would be worried, the boys left Tammy and Wren with food and fodder enough for a few days.

The next week, they hurried back with instructions from Merry's mother to check on the little pair by the river. This time the pony carried extra blankets, towels, baby clothes, and some clothes for Tammy, as well as fresh bread and some salted meat. All these things were sorely needed, for the men had not returned home. Tammy looked less pinched and ill, for she had been eating soups all week, but she was sorely worried. The little cow was giving less milk each day, just as the baby needed more. The poor cow was too old. Merry had detailed instructions, and the next day Tammy and the baby were bundled on the back of the patient pony and taken to the Hall. Pippen had the fun of leading the reluctant cow away from the only home she had known, poor as it was.

On the third day of that week the boys returned to the cottage on foot, to close it up for the winter. Leaving their packs at the cottage near the river, they walked through the fields up to Farmer Maggot's to buy some vegetables for their dinner, and to pay for what Pippen had taken the week before. As they walked they picked a few nice carrots and a couple of cabbages, to save Maggot the trouble.

And THAT is when the trouble started, for Maggot was quick to anger and was not inclined to listen to two boys! As they entered the farmyard from the woods (instead of decently from the road), he turned the dogs loose! The boys looked at each other in horror, and ran!

Ran right into Sam and Frodo, of course, and picked up their own packs as the four dashed through the woods toward the ferry, with the Black Horsemen behind!

Lynn B Hocraffer  
Oct 6, 2003


End file.
